Memorable Moments of 2013

With less than 2 days left in the year, it is a great time to do some reflection on the past 12 months. Joining the many other blogs out there I’ve put together some memorable moments of 2013. These are in no particular order.

2013 has been an interesting year. It didn’t go the way that I had planned. I started the year off at home for a short visit. That planned short visit turned into a semi-permanent return to home – an idea that I’ve been struggling on and off for the better part of this year. I didn’t get a chance to do much traveling for the first half the year as I was trying to figure out what was going on in my life, but towards the end of the year, I managed to sneak in a couple of trips here and there.

Because I was staying at home, I was struggling with seeing things as interesting and exciting. I made it a goal to continue to try new things, create memories and say yes to unwitting adventures.

Talking about my experiences going on an internship in Hungary

Joined an ultimate team

Clearly we’re fabulous. And the guy about to hit the ground in the left photo? That’ll be my super pro brother.

I’ve been trying to focus a lot on exercise and health after a bit of a health scare in my family a couple years ago. In the summer I decided to join an ultimate frisbee team. I had played briefly in high school but didn’t remember much at all. In the end I met some pretty awesome people and had a lot of fun getting some sun and exercise. We had an interesting season, after loosing all our games, we made a comeback in the playoffs, winning our last two games and placing 5th in our division after being on the bottom the whole way through. If that isn’t an underdog story in real life then I don’t know what is. A great experience that I hope to continue in the new year.

Birthday dinner

I have a tradition of hosting a murder mystery dinner party every year for my birthday (yes, even while living abroad) which fittingly falls on Halloween. It’s great fun, especially if everyone gets dressed up and stays in character throughout the night. This year, I opted to go with a professional chef instead of doing all the cooking myself and I had some delicious food with great company and entertaining game.

Circus school

Looking perfectly inelegant and awkward as I try to flip myself over. Clearly I need more upper arm strength.

My friends and I bought a Groupon to go take an introduction to circus class. They showed us how to juggle (I can almost do it!), do tricks on the trampoline (I use to love the trampoline and the sense of freedom – now? not so much. I was terrified the whole time!), and how to climb up and twist yourself around on the aerial ropes. I can see this as being a great work out because you definitely use your whole body. It was fun and I wouldn’t mind doing it again.

Picking up The Boy from the airport

You know those scenes in movies when people are reunited, the music gets cheesey, the film goes slow-mo and there is hair flying everywhere? Yea, that didn’t happen. But the reunion was memorable nonetheless. We had been apart for 8 months and I was so so happy to see him. 🙂

Returning to Victoria

I lived in this city during my university years and haven’t gone back since I left. It was interesting to see what had changed and what had stayed the same over the past years. I had a lot of fun revisiting old favorites and walking the familiar streets, while discovering how things have change and all the new restaurants! It was a short visit, but I’m already making plans to go back in the new year.

America’s Got Talent Live!

This was a cool experience that I wasn’t sure was going to happen. We got lucky and managed to snag tickets to a live taping of a semi-final show at the very last minute. While it is completely different from what you see on TV, it was interesting to see how TV producers work their magic changing what we saw live before us into something fit for the TV screen.

Wineries of the Okanagan

It seems like the thing to do for Vancouverites in the summer is to go to the Okanagan and drink lots and lots of wine. It was something I have never done before so I was pretty ecstatic to finally see what all the fuss was all about. Mmm wine goooood!

Starting up this blog

The biggest thing I did this year was starting up this blog. I had been thinking about it for a long time and while home I decided why not and made the jump. It’s been hard blogging while not traveling as much as previous years, but it has been a learning adventure from getting everything set up to actually writing consistently.

What were some of your major milestones and memorable moments of 2013?

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